Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Hopeless Like A Hungry Crowd

When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their
sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said,
“This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away,
so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus
replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves
of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he
said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking
the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and
broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave
them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the
disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.The
number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and
children. -Matthew 14:14-21

There are times in my life when I feel as hopeless as a
starving crowd of 5000 people.Just as
it seems impossible to feed that many people, sometimes I feel so lost,
unmotivated, depressed, and unfulfilled that it seems utterly impossible to
ever feel any other way. I get so stuck
that I can’t give anything to others either.

In the story above, the disciples saw a problem that was
impossible.There was no way for them to
feed 5000+ people with what they had.However, Jesus had a solution and it was simple: whatever you have,
bring it to Me.In this case they had 5
loaves of bread and 2 fish, and Jesus used that to make more than enough food
for everyone.They were all “satisfied.”

Right now, I don’t think I have anything that I can bring to
Jesus.But I do have myself and all the
issues that go with me.I can bring
me.The bread and fish that were brought
to Jesus were not the best choices in the land.In fact, the bread was barley loaves (food for the poor) and the fish were
like sardines (tiny and smelly).Nonetheless
Jesus used the barley loaves and little fish and not only made enough food to
feed the great number of people, He satisfied them so much that there were
leftovers.

In this rut that I’m stuck in, Jesus has called me to bring
myself to Him.I don’t know exactly what
will happen or what that even means.But
I do know that He can do what feels impossible.He can use imperfect me in ways that will satisfy me so much that I will
feel completely full.And I’ll be so
full that I’ll have leftovers to share with others.